Men Three Times More Likely to Commit Suicide Than Women.

The Office for National Statistics discovered that in the United Kingdom (England & Wales) men were far more likely to commit suicide than women, “Suicide rates have been consistently lower in females than in males throughout the time series” (1).

In 2012 there were 5981 registered suicides in people aged 15 and over (64 less than the previous year; 334 suicides in Wales and 5647 in England). Male suicide rates were more than three times higher than female rates with 18.2 male deaths per 100 000 population while female suicides stood at 5.2 deaths per 100 000. The highest suicide rate was among men aged 40 to 44, at 25.9 per 100 000. Of the 5981 suicides, 4590 were males and 1391 were females.The study found, however, that women (43%) were more likely to commit suicide via poisoning than men (20%) though men appear more likely to kill themselves through hanging, strangulation and suffocation (58%). Male suicides have risen since 1981 the year in which the figure stood at 4129, “The suicide rate did not decline consistently over this period, but fluctuated from year to year.” Female rates have had the opposite trend having dropped from 2466 in 1981 to 1391 in 2012 (a 44% drop).

References.

1. Office for National Statistics. 2014. Suicides in the United Kingdom,2012 Registrations. Available.

James Bishop

James is from South Africa. He is a graduate in Creative Brand Communication and Marketing (CBC) & Theology (majoring in psychology). James obtained his BTh with cum laude, and is currently pursuing his postgraduate in Religious Studies.